Citing a concern about the high incidence of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection rate in South County, Southwestern College President Kindred Murillo announced that all contact sports for the upcoming fall semester have been postponed.
Murillo said the decision was made for health and safety precautions for students, coaches and staff.
South County currently has the highest COVID-19 infection rate in San Diego County.
Football and men’s and women’s water polo would move their schedules to the spring semester, likely with a February through April time frame.
The California Community College Athletic Association, of which Southwestern College is a member, has approved three athletic plans for the upcoming fall season based on health guidelines.
Those plans include a conventional plan with no change to traditional schedules, a contact/non-contact plan that would include women’s golf, women’s volleyball, swimming and diving and cross country in the fall and a contingency plan that would limit participation in fall sports to just golf and cross country.
The CCCAA Board of Directors, after receiving a recommendation from its COVID-19 working group and evaluation on the state’s health guidelines, will make a final decision on July 17 regarding the three plans determined by health indicators based on safety (vaccine, testing, infection rates, hospital capacity).
“Currently the South County has the highest infection rate in the county,” Murillo said. “If the indicators do not improve in time for fall sports, we will only implement cross country. We are hopeful to operate other fall sports, including football, in February as long it is safe to do so.”
The college supports intercollegiate athletics for nearly 325 student-athletes. “We are focused on keeping our student-athletes, coaches, and staff safe and healthy through this pandemic,” Murillo said. “Deferring to the spring will allow college and health professionals to be better prepared to take the needed steps to keep everyone safe.”
Classes for the 2020 fall semester remain online.
Pigskin parade
Southwestern football head coach Ed Carberry said there are indications the other community colleges in the San Diego region would also move their football schedules to a spring format.
Next month’s decision by the board of directors could make it a statewide mandate.
In the meantime, everyone remains in a holding pattern
“It’s down to July 17, that’s the key date,” Carberry said. “We’re not doing anything different than anybody else in San Diego is doing right now.”
Carberry said players are continuing to work out on their own as the college’s training facilities are currently unavailable.
He said the move to the spring allows players to brush up on their studies and get their academic standing in order.
It would also allow players additional time to spend time in the weight room to get stronger.
“We’re going to keep lifting and come out of this ready to go,” Carberry said with a determined voice.
Carberry said his team would need to hold a preseason training camp to prepare for the spring football season. Training camp could start sometime in late January.
“If we had three to four weeks, we’d be fine,” Carberry said.
Because of the schedule shifts, schedules would be condensed by 70 to 75 percent depending on the sport.
Under the traditional plan, schedules would be condensed 75 percent, resulting in eight games and one scrimmage for football. Under the other two plans, schedules would be condensed to seven games and one scrimmage for football.
A full season usually consists of one scrimmage, 10 regular season games and a post-season bowl game for qualified teams.
One week of regional competition would be permitted under all plans.
Safety protocols would be in place for practices and road trips, including social distancing. Players will be required to have their temperatures taken and sign a waiver at each practice session, Carberry said.
The delay to the spring could also have its benefits, especially if a vaccine is ready at that time.
“It would mean that everyone would be clean,” the SWC coach said, pausing. “It should be interesting.”
Spring fling
Under all three plans, basketball would become a spring sport and move from its traditional November through March time frame. The new season would run from February through April and include a maximum of 20 regular season games and two scrimmages as opposed to 28 regular season games and two scrimmages.
Under the contact/non-contact plan, other fall sports moving to a February through April time frame would include soccer, water polo and wrestling.
Under the contingency plan, women’s volleyball would also become a spring sport.
Schedules would be condensed with the need to share campus facilities. For instance, baseball and softball would be contested in April through June.
Spring sports traditionally include baseball, softball, badminton, beach volleyball, men’s golf, tennis, swimming and diving, track and field and men’s volleyball.
Along with schedule shifts, funding shortfalls may also impact athletic departments, meaning that colleges may not be able to field all sports in a given season.
All-conference
Several players from Southwestern’s 2019 fall football team received all-conference recognition, including all-state honors for sophomore defensive tackle Andrew Schasa (Lincoln) and first-team all-conference honors for freshman linebacker Josh McCurty (Eastlake), sophomore outside linebacker Atoatasi Fox (Bonita Vista) and utilityman Terry Wright (St. Augustine).
Second team all-conference selections included sophomore offensive lineman Gabriel Preciado (Mar Vista), freshman wide receiver Davion Johnson, sophomore quarterback Josh Owen, sophomore defensive end Ubaldo Nolasco (Chula Vista), sophomore cornerback Jadarius Horton and freshman safety Braelen Bettles.
McCurty led the team with 67 tackles (40 unassisted), followed by Schasa with 41 stops.
Owen passed for 1,964 yards with 19 touchdowns while tacking on three rushing scores while Johnson caught 39 passes for 888 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Jaguars finished 6-5 overall with a trip to the Southern California Bowl after finishing 2-3 in National Southern Conference play.
Long Beach City defeated Southwestern, 20-16, to end the 2019 calendar season.
High School Sports
Fall season update: The California Interscholastic Federation will make a decision during a conference call among its 10 member sections on July 20 to determine if fall sports will continue as currently scheduled.
The CIF is prepared to offer alternative calendars if it is determined by July 20 that fall sports may not start as scheduled due to the ongoing public health and safety concerns. For resources, visit the website at www.cifstate.org.
